Woman of the Century/Dorothea Lummis

LUMMIS, Mrs. Dorothea, physician, born in Chillicothe, Ohio, oth November, i860. Her parents were Josiah H. Rhodes, of old Pennsylvania Dutch stock, and Sarah Crosby Swift, of New England Puritan stock. Several brothers and a sister of the young Dorothea died in infancy. In 1868 the family moved to Portsmouth, Ohio. Dorothea entered the Portsmouth Female College, and at the age of sixteen years was graduated as B.A. and was the salutatorian of her class. Two years later she went to Philadelphia, Pa., and entered Mme. Emma Seller's conservatory of music. She remained two years, learning some music and hearing a great deal of the best in concert and opera, and reading indiscriminately and superficially everything that was found on the shelves of the Public Library, that looked interesting. Later she went to Boston, Mass., and studied music under James O'Neil of the New England Conservatory of Music. In 1880 she became the wife of Charles F. Lummis. the well-known writer. In 1881 she entered the medical school of Boston University, and graduated with honors in 1884. During the last year of her college life she served as resident physician in the New England Conservatory of Music. In 1885 she removed to Los Angeles, where she began to practice medicine. She has been highly successful in her practice. She has obtained prompt recognition from her fellow physicians, and has served as president and secretary of the County Medical Society, and as corresponding secretary of the Southern California Medical Society. She served as dramatic editor of the Los Angeles "Times," and she is now the musical editor and critic of that journal. In her practice she found much cruelty and neglect among the children, chiefly of the Mexicans, and among animals. She at once set about the formation of a DOROTHEA LUMMIS. humane society, and brought the cases of neglect and cruelty into the courts, making the society at once a power. In her vacation tours she has visited many of the Indian pueblos in New Mexico, and has made a collection of arrow-heads, Navajo silver and blankets, Aconia pottery, baskets and other curios of that country- Besides her professional labors, Dr. Lummis has done some notable literary work. She has contributed to "Kate Field's Washington," "Puck," "Judge." "Life," "Woman's Cycle," the "Home-Maker," the San Francisco "Argonaut" and the "California!!." She is a member of the Pacific Coast Press Association, and has contributed many important papers to the various medical journals of standing in the United States.